Thursday, 1 May 2014

12on12in12 - the review!

A year of riding to Brighton on a different bike each time - a year where we had a little boy, our little girl carried on wanting our time, I got knocked off my bike by a taxi, fell off my bike once, we got assorted bugs and ailments - and the winter caused mass flooding over the Country!

The road surface was patchy - there were 3 different road closures on my route, train diversions on my way back and the first time I tried to learn to ride a penny farthing, I trod on the wheel and put it completely out of shape!

But the all important scores on the doors are as follows (fastest to slowest):

50 hours of cycling - and over 60 hours "on the road", not including train journeys and drives back... Definitely earned it!

So unsurprisingly, the "road" type bikes were fastest - with the TT bike at the top - though I think if I had had better vision, I would have run it a lot closer with the road bike. The Fixed Gear shows that lots of gears doesn't make a massive difference(!) and for commuters, there isn't much to chose between a Brompton and a Boris Bike. Despite it being one of the slowest overall times (due to the different cycling position) - the aerodynamics of a recumbent got it the fastest top speed (I'm sure the BMX is a "glitch"!)

The hardest ride - the recumbent definitely, followed by the MiniVelo, where I felt hypothermic coming into Brighton. The most fun - those that I had company on (thank you), the BMX as it made me feel like a little kid, but the very best was the tandem, because it was the last one and I had Em with me. Thanks everyone for your interest and support - and thank you for your sponsorship too!